What Are the Most Dangerous Cities in America?

Last week, the FBI announced that violent crime dropped four percent in 2011, compared to a 5.5 percent drop in 2010.

However, according to a 24/7 Wall St. review of 2011 FBI crime statistics, violent crime is on the rise in places that already have the highest rates for it in the country — both murder and burglary have gone up.

These high crime rates appear to be conducive to poverty stricken areas with high unemployment and low median incomes. Two cities in Michigan — Flint and Detroit — topped the report, earning them spots one and two, respectively, on the list of most dangerous cities in America.

According to the FBI, no city with more than 100,000 residents had a higher violent crime rate than Flint. In 2011, there were nearly 2,400 incidents of violent crime reported in the city. To put it in perspective, that same year there were only about 1,300 violent crimes in all of the 10 safest cities in America combined.

Detroit saw an 11 percent increase in homicides from the previous year, while ranking forth in robbery and second highest in the nation for aggravated assault.

St. Louis, Missouri didn’t improve over last year, with the exception of a decrease in its total number of reported murders. Overall, it still ranked as the nation’s third-most dangerous city, with the fourth-highest murder rate in the nation and the fifth-highest rate for robbery.